Children Explore Virginia Christmas Customs

NEWPORT NEWS — Children and parents got a history lesson about the holiday traditions in Virginia this year at Palmer Elementary School in Newport News.

Music teacher Susan Smith used several reference books on early American history to glean information for a musical play she wrote called ``Holiday Traditions in Virginia,'' which was recently performed by fourth-grade students at the school.

``I like the part about using candles instead of electric lights on the tree. I don't think people do that any more, but it must have been pretty,'' says Danielle Swann, who says she is glad to be living in this century rather than in the early Colonial days nor would she have liked celebrating Christmas with the Indians. ``Definitely not. It would be most difficult and maybe cold,'' she adds.

In contrast, Stanford Zimmerman says he likes the idea of feasting with the Indians. ``I think it would be fun to go hunting for deer, skinning it and getting it ready to cook,'' says Stanford, who helped Danielle present the history of the Christmas tree during the play. ``Cold weather wouldn't bother me at all.''

Lea Umufuke, 9, told the story of the yule log during the play.``I didn't know you could soak logs in water and make them burn longer,'' she says. ``I wouldn't have been afraid to have a meal with the Indians. They seemed liked friends to the colonists, but I'll bet it was cold back then.''

The very first Christmas in the New World was celebrated by Christopher Columbus when he explored the islands in the West Indies, Smith says.

Columbus' flagship, the Santa Maria, ran onto rocks and began to leak, so he and his sailor spent Christmas Day unloading supplies from the ship. The next day, explorers and the Indians held a feast aboard the ship Nina and another feast on the shore.

``The Indians brought gifts of gold,'' Smith says. ``Later, Columbus left some of his men to start a colony, which they named La Navidad...the Spanish words for Christmas.

``It was a different story in 1607 when the first English colony in Jamestown marked Christmas Day, because over half of the settlers had died from hunger and disease. Capt. John Smith was held prisoner by the Indians. There was no fancy feasting and decorations, but the men did gather in their crude church to hear the Christmas story.''

As the Virginia colony grew, colonists began to observe holiday customs they brought with them from Europe, such as feasting, dancing, caroling, burning Yule logs and holding open house. The festivities lasted through Twelfth Night or Jan. 6 and sometimes longer.

``According to the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the tradition of the

yule log came from a winter holiday for working men. In earlier days, the men would soak a log before burning it and as long as they could make the log burn the holiday continued. Sometimes a log would burn for 10 to 20 days,'' says Smith.

``By the late 1700s, Christmas was being celebrated in all 13 colonies. Although the colonies were ruled by England, the customs came from many lands. Those customs were mixed and the people moved from one area to another.''

Holly trees, which grew wild along the Atlantic coast, was the most popular Christmas decoration in Colonial America.

``The Christmas tree custom did not become popular until the 1800s. The custom began in Germany and was brought to America by soldiers during the Revolutionary War,''says Smith.

``As more and more people from different countries came to America many customs and religious beliefs came, too. The Dutch brought St. Nicholas with them, which later became Santa Claus here in America. And, the Jewish people brought their holiday custom... the celebration of lights called Hanukkah to America,'' she adds.